Do People with Less Coverage Shop More?

The fact is that not many patients shop for better pricing.

This week I was ordered by my doctor to get 2 MRIs.  Going to the closest place to my house, my appointment was moved 4 different times and the unprofessional front office kid with dirty nails couldn’t “do the math” to tell me what time I could come back to get my MRIs done even though I had an appointment.  Besides the inefficiencies and the wildly unprofessional nature (dirty and scheduling issues), the it will cost you $800 for two MRIs was interesting to me.

I went online and immediately found that MRI scan costs in Florida range between $1489 and $6570 based on a pricing information analysis of 243 medical providers who perform MRI scans in Florida. Patients paying cash pay as little as $250 – $725 for the MRI scan (Source).

I logged onto my insurance portal and found several options in the half price range of what I was quoted within minutes. 

So the question is, since 2018 when the CNBC article quoted that less than 1% of patients use this trick to save on medical bills.  Now with more pricing transparency, do people shop more or only those with bigger out of pocket deductibles or less coverage shop more?

@jeanmarieloria